Before the City Council can give away the museum block for $1, they first have to approve the “design concepts” for the museum. On the council communication, under “neighborhood concerns,” it states, “Heart of Peoria Commission reviewed the drawings prior to Council approval on April 4, 2006.” This is misleading. First of all, the design plans have changed dramatically since 2006. The council communication does acknowledge that there have been “some revisions,” but that’s rather understated, considering the size of the building decreased by 26%, retail development has been pushed off to a future phase, etc. Secondly, the Heart of Peoria Commission recommended denial of the changes that reduced the building size in 2007.
Why is City staff not providing council members with all the facts? What other facts have they omitted?
CJ: Why start providing all the facts now? Let’s not let facts get in the way of the vote.
Your doing a GREAT job BUT the vote will be museum approved. This is what the powers that be want and nothing short of an act of GOD will stop it.
Well, if we’re going down, might as well go down swinging…
Let it go already….
I agree with peoriafan 100%!
It is time to let this ‘museum project’ go!
Lets find a more productive way to utilize that property; maybe one that won’t cost the taxpayers a fortune!
let it go?
That’s great advice if it is about protests about the “ground zero” mosque, or if it is about Obama’s religion or if it is about the Bush tax cuts or the resistance to Wall Street and financial reform…
But to allow a few local demagogues to flaunt their self interests over the public when we KNOW this entire deal is a lie… I don’t think we should let it go.
Sorry to do this CJ, but I’m going to hijack this posting.
Folks, please stop over at Gary Panetta’s latest blog posting. He posted my letter to the editor which the JSEB chose not to. I would certainly like to see some of your comments over there, as I’m sure Gary would. Find it here: http://blogs.pjstar.com/panetta/2010/08/24/reader-sounds-off-on-museum-proposal/
This may be your last chance to sound off about the issue at the Journal Star before tonight’s vote.
Thanks, CJ. Please don’t ever get tired of telling us the TRUTH—it’s appreciated more than you’ll ever know.
I guess if you feel so strongly against the museum why are you hiding behind some fake name on a local blog? Why not get out there in the public and get some people to sign petitions to stop it. Get something real going. At least CJ has put himself out there and everyone knows who he is and what is opinion is on any given subject. I don’t agree with CJ on this subject but at least he is doing his part for the opposition as the rest of you spend a few minutes writing on a blog hiding behind a fake name and expect to change something. If you feel that strongly against it then why not so something like the pro-museum people who want it did. It’s like people who bitch about elected officials but never take the time to vote.
peoriafan: Is that your real name?
Funny, couldn’t find any Peoriafans listed in the phone book. BTW, maybe something in the background is being done to stop this idiot plan for a museum.
If the strongest defense to moving full steam ahead on the museum project is lambasting opponents who post anonymously on an internet blog, then the merits of the museum project clearly aren’t much to stand on.
While I post under a pseudonym for the purposes of this blog, I don’t see how that takes away from the following facts:
– The project is not fully funded, and the City of Peoria would be taking a risk by giving the green light to any project without funding fully lined up.
– This project will take 5 acres of the most valuable land within the City of Peoria permanently off the property tax rolls in exchange for the princely sum of $1 annually in a time when the City is laying off police officers to try to balance the budget.
– Of the funding this project does have, much of it comes from a narrowly-passed referendum based on a project description that explicitly stated an IMAX theater, which we now see may not come to pass.
– This project, especially without an IMAX theater, will do little if anything to restimulate downtown Peoria, especially on nights and weekends when most locals believe that downtown “shuts down”.
Now, I’m not an uncultured person who is against spending money and investing in museums and theaters; actually, I’m far from it. However, there have been no compelling reasons presented to me that make me think that this project needs to occur at the Block in question rather than expanding and improving Lakeview on its current site or on one of the dozens of other vacant and under-utilized blocks in downtown Peoria; case-in-point, all three floors of the old furniture store kitty-corner from the bus station on Adams are vacant and would provide more than enough space for a new museum while preserving two of the most valuable blocks between Chicago and St. Louis for new development that would actually improve downtown. By “improve” downtown, I refer to new businesses, new residents, new visitors, new shoppers and new LIFE to what was once a thriving downtown, boosting tax revenues to the city, centrally locating new development in the region, and improving the quality of life for residents on both sides of the river.
If there’s an argument I’ve made above that is somehow invalidated by my use of a pseudonym, please let me know which argument it is.
Peoriafan,
Now that you have become everyone’s favorite…
I thought we went through this whole “anonymous blogger thing” several times in the past. Maybe the people who are ‘pushing’ this thing through having nothing to lose, but everything to gain. Look at the people representing PRM! Big money. You think anyone who is promoting this museum has to worry about THEIR job?
I have a hundred friends and family members who work at CAT. None of them are for this project, but they are all scared to death of speaking out against it.
You know how politically charged this issue has become. Why do you insist on being a dork?
peoriafan, I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and guess that a post lambasting other anonymous posters while yourself using the screename “peoriafan” was with your tongue firmly in cheek.
If not, that would explain your stance on the museum.
O.K.
One of my biggest problems with this museum business…
Since the beginning [a long, long time ago, in a galaxy…] no one has ever been able to defend this project. We have all heard about the tremendous economic impact the museum will have on the area [at least the City of Peoria…], how the museum will enrich us all and improve our quality of life, etc. Isn’t this the ‘legacy’ we all want to leave behind?!? Do I dare mention IMAX…?
The economic impact the museum will have on the area was NEVER supported by anything other than questionable data and half-ass projections. Worth investing over a hundred million in? I wonder if all the big-money movers connected with PRM play the stock market the same way? Of course the difference between the museum and the stock market is; if the museum goes under…ah well….too bad…. If their PERSONAL investments take a hit, they lose money and scream bloody murder! It’s easy to play with other people’s money.
What kind of “LEGACY” do I want to leave my children? Good schools, safe streets and neighborhoods, maybe a job or career [high speed rail?], etc. THAT means “quality of life.”
Despite all the controversy currently surrounding the museum, “we gotta fill that damn hole with something,” is one of the most prevalent arguments given by museum supporters. Here is one of my favorites, “we won…now get over it!” This is clever, “…but we’ve already spent millions…?”
What’s a million here or a million there when we all have money to burn?